Teamwork
by Chondra
Summary: Fox has a habit of picking up strays. He expects the drama at first, especially with his hot-head ace pilot. However, when he finds himself in deeper trouble than ever before can he rely on his rag-tag group to help him? Fox/Krys (OCs)
1. Chapter 1

Chondra woke with a start. Had she been dreaming? She remembered the combat, her target. Kish was so close to being hers. Then there was the explosion, her explosion - set just three seconds too soon. Then she was the bear in the bees nest and could do nothing but protect her face from the stings.

She lifted herself off of whatever she was laying on and groaned as a sharp pain rippled through her. No dream.

"So I am alive." She laughed once in her exhale.

"Not for your lack of trying to be otherwise." A voice replied.

Chondra looked up quickly and saw that she was not alone. What's more she was not on her own ship like she had assumed though the bed she was laying on was very similar to her own. The source of the voice was ordinary other than his green eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before Chondra stood.

"Have I seen you before?"

"Only just before you passed out." Tyronos said simply. "I have some clean clothes and your weapons laid out for you." He used his right arm to indicate the table. Chondra looked at him dumbly for a moment.

"Are you always so nice to prisoners?" Chondra asked walking towards the table.

"And what makes you think that you are a prisoner of mine?" Tyronos asked turning to leave.

"Last face I saw before I passed out? Woke up in a ship that is just not mine. A girl begins to wonder." Chondra replied picking up the sword on the top of the clothes.

"In thanks to your apparent attempt to commit suicide, I have brought you to my ship. A favourable situation was made for me." Tyronos said not bothering to turn to face her again. "Get changed now the planet should be coming in range soon."

"Weirdo." Chondra drawled as she took off her old clothes and pulled on the ones that Tyronos had given her.

It was strange to see that she was pulling on some of her own clothes. She shook her head. Thankful but not trusting. She couldn't' blame him though, she would have done the same - maybe even less. Because the bed had been the same Chondra had assumed that the rest of the ship was going to be the same. She was wrong, the ship was quite simply leaner than her own. It was efficient, the whole rig seemed to just flow and ooze perfection. She bit her lip, completely jealous. She wandered towards what she assumed would be the cockpit eyeing details and trying to remember them as she went. She finally managed to get to the cockpit where her... captor? Rescuer? Was waiting.

"Thank you." Chondra said standing in the doorway. Tyronos was entering co-ordinates into his ship's computer.

"You speak Cornerian with an accent I can't place." Tyronos said turning slowly to face her. "I don't know what to make of you."

"Nor I you." Chondra retorted tilting her head. "My name is Chondra, call sign Ghost."

_'Now I do know what to make of you.'_ Tyronos thought with a smirk. "I'm Tyronos. Call sign Hopeless." Tyronos indicated that she may sit down in the other chair.

"Where are you taking me?" Chondra asked looking out into space, she could see a planet in the distance.

"I am going to Corneria." Tyronos said. "I have set your ship to autopilot itself there."

"You have proven to be most thoughtful."

"Like I said, I owe you. Haphazard or accidental as it was your distraction proved opportune."

Chondra groaned. "Stop talking like I was doing you a favour. I fucked up and you saved my ass."

"People will assume we are working together regardless." Tyronos shrugged. "I just used the situation to our advantage. You're still alive and I am..."

"What?" Chondra asked turning to face Tyronos again.

"Nothing." Tyronos said dismissing her.

"Communication is not your forte is it?" Chondra grumbled resting her head on her right fist. Tyronos shut his eyes for a long moment then switched his ship to autopilot and took off his headset. Chondra returned his lazy annoyed look with a annoyed look of her own she stood and started to walk back to the room she woke up in.

"This is why I don't work with others."

Tyronos burst into laughter causing Chondra to stop walking and turn to look at him again.

"What?"

"I was thinking the same thing."


	2. Chapter 2

"Soskk!"

It was with a pang of loneliness that Tyronos watched Chondra reunite with her partner. He drooped his head and rubbed the back of his neck. Soskk was obviously overjoyed to see her and spun her around in his arms and gave her a kiss. Chondra was giggling like a little girl. Suddenly she became Zarah and it was himself spinning her around. She laughed and it echoed painfully in Tyronos's head he covered his ears.

"Tyronos?" Chondra's voice poked him into real life once more.

"Hm?" Tyronos asked trying to get back to his usual demeanour.

"Soskk has invited you over for a thank you supper. He's actually quite a good cook." Chondra asked shyly.

"I need to report to Fox." Tyronos replied turning to go.

"I thought you worked alone?" Chondra said crossing her arms.

"In most regards I do." Tyronos replied walking away.

Chondra turned to Soskk who, with a knowing sigh waved her after Tyronos. Chondra smiled and followed Tyronos, quickly catching up to him. Soskk allowed himself to feel some pride when he watched Chondra run after her new companion. When they had first met Cho was largely antisocial, aggressive and prone to fits of moodiness that sometimes lasted for days. It took the better part of a half year to get Chondra to have regular conversations with him, even when they had started seeing each other. Now to see her chasing a person down to invite them to dinner, all smiles and cheeriness. Thanks to him and his patience.

"Of course." Tyronos groaned as he heard the woman running after him.

"Of course what?" Chondra asked hand on her hip.

"You follow." Tyronos said indicating her. "I don't know what you're hoping to achieve but-"

"Tyronos!" The two turned at the same time to see none other than Fox McCloud running towards them. Tyronos sighed and shouldered his bag. They didn't speak until Fox was close enough to talk normally with.

"Fox." Tyronos addressed the man.

"I didn't expect you back so soon." Fox confessed. "I thought you would be gone another week at least."

"I had a good opportunity." Tyronos answered indicating Chondra. "She created a distraction."

"You take partners now?" Fox asked tilting his head and crossing his arms.

"Not willingly." Chondra cut in and extended her hand. "Chondra."

"Fox." Fox said shaking her hands. "I think I know of you. Soskk does some of our repairs when Slippy is over worked. He speaks fondly of you of course."

"He is quite the flatterer." Chondra grinned sheepishly. "Tyronos saved my life I was hoping to repay him."

"For someone who was so eager to dismiss my help in the ship you are quite keen on this." Tyronos grumbled crossing his arms.

"It's not me." Chondra said and turned to indicate where Soskk was. "It's Soskk."

"Tell him I'm sorry, but I don't have time for it." Tyronos said and started to walk away. Fox and Chondra watched him walk a bit before turning to each other once more.

"He's like that." Fox shrugged.

"I've noticed." Chondra said with a laugh and waved to Fox while she turned to walk away herself. "Well, I guess I'd better head back and look for some more jobs."

"You're in need of work?" Fox asked suddenly catching her arm.

"It's the nature of my skills. I find myself between jobs often." Chondra shrugged. "Soskk will put me to work in the mean time."

"What if I told you I had some work for you?"

"I'd ask what kind. I'm no mechanic, Soskk usually just makes me answer the phone." Chondra said shifting her weight to one hip.

"I lead a team of mercenaries." Fox said crossing his arms. "I think your help would be welcome."

"What makes you think that?" Chondra asked.

Chondra now fought with her instincts to shove a blade in the stomach of this vulpine to keep him silent. She clenched her jaw tightly. Sometimes being in the "real world" made things so complicated. What made her tough and protected on Kew made her weak and targeted on Corneria's calm soil. She wondered if trying to mesh into society was worth it. It was harder work, less pay and more masks. She almost laughed when she thought - perhaps it is the civilized people who were more dangerous. They all wore masks to cover who they are and what they really thought. Protected by the laws of society.

"Soskk is a good man. He tries his best to cover for you." Fox said quietly. "Your line of work is hard for him to deal with."

"You are privy to information that I generally do not reveal." Chondra said with a menacing tone.

"My invitation still stands even with your background." Fox said with furrowed eyebrows. "It is more than what most would do. Your bounty could pay my whole crew for a year. Take my offer, tell Soskk that your days as an assassin are over."

"Good pay and better colleagues." Chondra said with a dangerous grin. "Who could refuse."

"Good." Fox said offering up his hand once more. He tried not to wince as Chondra gripped it tightly.

* * *

"Fox?"

Fox felt himself shiver at the sound of Krystal's gentle voice. It was nighttime and Fox was on the top of the building, feet over the edge looking around the city of Corneria cold beer in hand. Krystal was in her sleepwear, a silky nightgown. Fox smiled as she sat down beside him feet facing in rather than out. She didn't have the same cravings for adrenaline that her boyfriend did. They had taken to sitting on the roof together not long after Krystal moved in. Fox of course had the habit from long ago where the lights and sounds of the city were the only things that soothed him. Replaying lullabies that he was never sang.

"We have taken in another stray?"

"Yup." Fox said after taking another drink of his beer.

"Why?" Krystal asked simply sitting beside Fox and taking his beer from him. He held his hand open and ready for her to return it. She didn't right away. She looked around the city for a moment before taking a quick drink and returning the bottle to Fox who took a drink himself before answering.

"You know my father was betrayed by his teammates?" Fox said leaning back and resting on his hands. "Betrayed. By his teammates."

"Yes." Krystal said softly.

"My team means everything to me. I've worked hard to make sure they're all happy." Fox confessed. "A lot of that need comes from a fear that one day they'll betray me like my dad's team did."

"I don't think that is something you need to worry about." Krystal said taking the beer again.

"I just." Fox leant forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Those two. Tyronos and Chondra. They feel like Falco. Loners."

"And that's a good thing?" Krystal asked.

"In my experience." Fox paused to finish off his beer. "If you can earn that type of person's trust then you have a friend for life." Fox stood and walked back to place his beer back in the case and take out two new ones. He returned to sit by Krystal again. "Friends are something I long for more than anything."

"More than money?" Krystal teased tossing her cap at him. Fox caught it and then flipped it over with his thumb.

"Yup. Even more than money." Fox smirked opening his beer and offering it up in cheers to Krystal. "To friends."

"To friends." Krystal agreed and clinked her bottle against Fox. The two rested against each other and watched the city in silence comfortably. Letting the lights and sounds hypnotise them into serenity.

* * *

Chondra was packing her bags with only a mild amount of effort. She was glad to have some legal work for a change, but she was also going to miss the month or so that she usually got to spend with Soskk between jobs. Her partner however was excited to help her pack; so much that Chondra was starting to think that he wanted her gone.

"My love." She said after watching Soskk tie up another bag of supplies.

"Yes?" He answered looking up.

"Are you really so eager to be rid of me?" She asked hands on hips. "I feel like you could burst into song at any moment."

"It's not that my love." Soskk said walking over and holding Chondra tightly. "Fox is a good commander, and his team always arrives back alive. Don't you see? I don't have to worry so much anymore. This job will finally bring some stability into your life."

"I have stability with you Soskk." Chondra said sweetly holding his face. "You have been my rock for the whole time I've known you."

"I know." Soskk said suddenly getting shy. "I just...I just thought that once you've done some missions that we could. You know. Start a family."

"You know how I feel about that." Chondra said softly. "I'm too old for pups."

"You said that you couldn't bring a child into our lives while you were...still doing your old job. Things will be different with Fox." Soskk said kissing Chondra on the forehead and then the lips. "Why don't we forget about this for now. We can talk more after you get back from your mission with Fox."

"Alright." Chondra said as Soskk continued to kiss her down her neck. "Hey." Soskk ignored her. "Hey, you're going to make me late if you keep this up."

"Fox gets you for the next few weeks." Soskk said forcing Chondra and himself to fall onto the bed. "He will find a way to cope with being a few minutes late this once."

"Just this once?" Chondra teased as Soskk pulled off his shirt.

"Ah well. Maybe once or twice." Soskk corrected himself. Chondra giggled and took him in her arms.

"Late on the first day!" Fox said as Chondra finally appeared in his office.

"And I'm not even sorry about it." Chondra grinned, she stood in what she hoped was a proper way to stand in front of a commander with her hands behind her back feet shoulder width apart.

"Neither am I." Tyronos said entering the room behind her. His face was more or less emotionless.

"Yes well, neither surprises me." Fox said walking towards them. "At any rate the others have already been briefed on the mission so you'll have to walk and listen." Chondra and Tyronos followed Fox as he walked past them and out of the room. They had all their gear packed in bags hanging off of them. "Some officials in Corneria City have been involved in trafficking some illegal exports. We've been assigned the task of recovering the exports at the source off world and capturing or otherwise detaining the people involved. With any luck they will agree to stand against the officials and the whole business will be shut down."

They entered the main hall where the Great Fox was docked. Fox called to the others in the hall. Falco raised his hand in acknowledgement from the top of the ship where he was doing a final hull inspection. Slippy was with Peppy over by the computers that were checking and regulating everything on the Great Fox. Krystal could be seen in the cockpit with a communicator on her head. She was talking with Slippy obviously aiding in the final checks. Tyronos returned Falco's calm greeting but didn't walk any closer to the main ship instead he turned to his arwing.

"Falco and Tyronos will be taking air support." Fox explained as he watched Tyronos walk to his ship. "You and I will be handling the actual recovering of the illegal goods."

"Your right hand girl on the first mission?" Chondra grinned as they walked onto the Great Fox. "I must have made a good impression."

"Call it your interview." Fox said with a grin.


	3. Chapter 3

The next month of training and missions helped the crew get used to each other. Trust was slower. Tyronos and Chondra trusted each other to behave in a way that helped the mission and crew. However, neither one of them started sleeping without their weapons within arms distance. Fox was pleased with himself. Chondra was a great addition to the team. She was more social than Tyronos and that made it easier to get her to help train with the others. Right now she was sparring with Krystal wood sword versus wooden staff. The boys made bets from the sidelines.

"Move your feet Krys." Tyronos called as Chondra made a spinning kick into sword swipe that Krystal bent backwards to dodge. "Don't upset your balance if you don't have to."

"Cho is unreal." Slippy said with a cheer. He had bet that she would be the winner. "Look how fast she is between attacks. She's calculating her next move five moves in advance."

"Take out her legs Krys." Fox said as Krystal tried to land a stomach jab then twisted into a wide strike.

Chondra bent awkwardly to miss the stomach jab and fell onto her back to miss the sideswipe. Fox and Peppy cheered. They had bet on Krystal. Falco and Tyronos were next to each other. They looked at each other for the briefest moment. Falco's arms were crossed. Fox watched them out of the corner of his eyes for a while before a cheer made him looked back to the sparring girls. Krystal had Chondra on the defensive with a series of hard and quick staff strikes; she finished the series with a low sweep and took Chondra out. Cho landed with an "oof" on her back. Krystal raised her staff in a mock finishing move. Chondra grinned and kicked her legs out sideways and made the blue vixen fall to her side. Switching the grasp on her wooden sword and spinning to her knees Cho launched herself onto Krystal pinning her down with her legs and her sword.

"Very good Krys." Chondra huffed out after a moment. Both girls were breathing hard and sweating. Krystal looked at her silently for a moment before laughing. Chondra rolled off of her and groaned as she laid on her back. "Ow."

"Krys got you good with that jab right at the start." Slippy said happily taking his won money from Fox and Peppy.

"My only good shot." Krystal said sitting up, legs underneath her. Chondra pulled herself up one leg out straight and the other bent with her elbow resting on her knee, sword in hand.

"No way." Chondra said shaking her head. "The whole match was good. You made me work for it."

Fox was helping both girls up when a person entered the building through the open bay doors of the building. All of Starfox's team looked over. "Fox McCloud, good to see you m'boy."

"General Pepper!" Fox said with a grin, he put his hands on his hips. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just business." Pepper replied, he looked over at the crew he noticed the new face almost right away. Chondra had taken a towel from Peppy and put it around her neck. Peppy was holding a water bottle at the ready for her. Krystal already had hers. "Who is this? A new member?"

"Yup." Fox replied he motioned for Chondra to come stand beside him. She obeyed and stood beside Fox, one hand on her hip the other holding her water bottle.

"Chondra. Call sign Ghost." Chondra said with a nod of her head.

"Ghost." Pepper replied slowly. "I don't recognize it. Anyway, it's nice to meet you."

Chondra smiled and shook the General's hand. Of course you don't recognize it... She thought. Fox was eager to get to the matter at hand. He cleared his throat. "Why don't you come into my office Pepper. We can talk there."

"As you like Fox."

Chondra watched the two leave before letting out an audible sigh of relief. She heard a laugh and turned to see Tyronos grinning to himself. "What?" She asked.

"I can see why you are called Ghost now." He said standing and turning to walk away. "You went so white, I swear I could see through you when Pepper shook your hand."

"Ha. Ha. Asshole." Chondra said. "If he knew who I was..."

"Best not remind me how much you're worth." Tyronos called after her with a laugh.

Chondra smirked wryly as he turned out of sight. Krystal called her name and she answered her, following her to the new female change rooms to get cleaned up. Fox called them all together about half an hour later. Pepper had left, leaving Fox with his mission. Chondra leant against the wall in the back wearing her favourite black lounging wear. Black yoga pants and a black t-shirt her hair back in a pony tail. Most of the others in the room were dressed similarly, loose pants and shirts, as it was supposed to be a light day of training.

"Im not going to lie guys. This mission is some serious shit." Fox said facing the crew. "It's military business."

"I thought we weren't going to get involved with military business." Falco said instantly annoyed.

"We've been hired by the military before." Fox answered. "We're hired guns Falco. Military business pays just as well as all the other jobs we've taken."

"Yeah but there is politics here. We can't take this job without upsetting someone else." Falco said motioning with his hands. "It's not good for business down the road."

"Falco. Shut it. Anyone upset we're taking military jobs is someone we shouldn't be taking work from anyway." Tyronos growled after rolling his eyes. "Besides that Fox is the commander. He took the job and now we're going to do it."

"There is a conflict between the two largest trade groups around Macbeth." Fox said. "Corneria can't get officially involved. The government has massive contracts with both sides. Losing either one would mean suffering for the people."

"Pepper needs us to play referee then." Peppy said.

"Why not." Slippy said cheerfully. "Anything to stop another war."

"Yeah." Falco sighed. "Why not."

"What do you three think?" Fox asked the three silent ones.

"You know I agree with you." Krystal said with a gentle smile.

Tyronos nodded with his eye closed.

"Aye aye Captian." Chondra grinned. Fox smiled at his crew.

"Get ready, we'll leave in an hour."

In the hour she had left Chondra ran home, spent some time with Soskk packed some new clothes and then returned to the base. Tyronos took the time to tinker with his Arwing as well as help Slippy and Falco tune up the other's Arwings. Fox was busy with his battle plans. Krystal was preparing the rations for the trip and Peppy was doing the pre-launch checks on the Great Fox.

Krystal enjoyed her moments alone before missions. It gave her time to clear her head, and the distance from her teammates allowed a duller sound from her telepathic brain. Military business. She shouldn't complain. Military business is what brought Fox to her in the first place. Those days seemed so long ago now. She laughed aloud at her nostalgia.

"Giggling to yourself is the first sign of nostalgia you know."

Krystal looked over quickly, startled that someone had snuck up on her. Chondra grinned her best mad hatter smile and went to the fridge. "I finished packing sooner than I expected. Do you need any help in here?"

"No, but thank you. We keep a lot of stuff already on the Great Fox to cut down on load time." Krystal said with a kind smile.

"Then I'll just keep you company then." Chondra grinned and opened the bottle of beer that she had found in the fridge.

"Thank you. Company is always welcome." Krystal laughed gently.

Krystal smiled contently and went back to her work. Chondra drank her beer and they remained in easy silence for a while.

"You are quiet the enigma." Krystal said after a while. "I get no positive or negative feeling from you."

"Ah yes, the telepath." Chondra said softly. "I guess that's just how I've grown up."

Krystal was silent for a moment. Though they were good friends on a teamwork sort of level, on a personal level they were almost strangers. Krystal knew Chondra would protect any of them in a heart beat but she had no apparent motive. This was fun in a way. It was refreshing to get to know someone rather than already having a feeling before even speaking.

"You have a strange accent. Like me." Chondra said conversationally.

"Cerinian." Krystal replied. "It's gone now. I don't even have a strong accent anymore after being on Corneria so long. It's the last bit of homeworld I have."

"Not completely." Chondra disagreed. "As long as you keep your world's stories and you have your blue fur. Cerinia will live on."

"Thank you for saying that." Krystal smiled, feeling warmth in her heart."What about you? Where is home for you?"

"Space." Chondra grinned. "Born and raised."

"Space?" Krystal asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My parents are drifters." Chondra explained. "I was born and raised on their ship. I didn't touch land until I was almost five."

"How strange it must have been for you." Kyrstal said leaning on the counter and looking at Chondra intently.

"What is strangeness but a difference in our normal? To me it was stranger on land." Chondra laughed. "I didn't settle down on a planet for very long once I left my parents either. Guess it was just in my blood to drift."

"So where were you before you landed on Corneria?"

"Just doing jobs, hanging out on the planet that gave me the most money for my skills."

"What is your skill? Flying like Ty and Falco?" Krystal asked.

Chondra felt the familiar clenching of her gut. Someone was getting too close to asking questions that she could only answer with a blade to the stomach. Again there was the feeling of being trapped, smothered by play-nice and make-conversation of civilized society. How did Hopeless do this? Krystal was still looking at her, waiting for a reply.

"Ah." Chondra smiled deviously. "Maybe it's better if you didn't know."

Before Krystal could question the white vixen further Fox's voice called them all to the hanger. They were ready to launch. Chondra left immediately. Stopping at the door to pick up her bags. Suddenly the warmth of Chondra seemed a bit distant. Replaced with a devious smile and sinister gleam. Krystal shook her head of the strange feelings. Perhaps the kitchen lighting just played with her eyes. With one last shake of her head Krystal loaded the last of the food crates onto her cart and heading to the hanger after Chondra.

Krystal didn't have another chance to talk with Chondra, at least not privately. The whole flight to MacBeth was spent either preparing her arwing or talking battle plans with the rest of the team. _I can just ask her again when we're back from this mission. Maybe Fox knows what she did before - he did recruit her. He wouldn't hire someone dangerous. _Comforted with her reasoning, Krystal relaxed and focused on her premission tasks. Too soon MacBeth was upon them.

The sky was a mess with the fighting. Apparently any attempt to talk either side into peace was completely destroyed. They would have to get involved and through enough of their weight around to get both sides attention and then go from there. Fox quickly sent out his two ace pilots Falco and Tyronos. Fox followed with Slippy, Chondra and Krystal.

"This is a shit show! Who are we supposed to be shooting at?" Chondra asked as she swooped and spun to avoid other ships and weapon fire. She could see Tyronos, he was disabling the other ship's weapons with well aimed shots.

"We're not here to take sides. Try and disable the ships. I send you the schematics." Tyronos said and on her screen Chondra saw two ship types pop up. Two areas on either ship were lit up bright red. "Aim for the red zone. If you don't think you can make the shot just give me cover fire for Falco or me. They aren't going to allow us to walk all over them."

"I'll be covering you then." Chondra said immediately. She heard Tyronos laugh.

"Just keep up Ghost." He said and started really engaging himself in the fights.

"I can keep up with your ass fine Hopeless." Chondra said as she accelerated to catch up with Tyronos. She bit her lip as she pushed herself to keep up with him, he was a talented pilot and his arwing was fast. It wasn't as easy as she had hoped to keep up with him.

Starfox was repeating the same sentence over and over again in attempt to get both sides to stop fighting. His pleas were ignored. Though Tyronos and Falco were ace pilots and their aim was true, they were having limited progress disabling the ships. Fox and Chondra did their best to give them cover fire but some shots still landed. They were all taking a beating, with no help in sight. Everyone felt the tension rise; swearing freely and calling both sides things that would make their mother's faint. Or laugh depending on the mother. Then suddenly one of the biggest ships blew apart, Chondra was too close to the blast to avoid it. She blacked out to the sound of everyone screaming over the radio.

* * *

It felt like her world was ending, like her life was ending. The pain in her head made her weak and nauseated. She rolled her head back on her seat and exhaled deeply. The blankness that she had when she tried to remember how she got here told her that her head injury was no joke. Not that it felt like a joke. She shut her eyes tightly and a few tears leaked out. She needed to get out of the Arwing. She pressed the button that should have opened the cockpit. When it didn't open Chondra cursed. Taking a deep breath she stood and pressed her back against the ceiling and then pressed the button again with her foot. She growled a little as she pressed even harder. The cockpit finally did open and with a pathetic cry she fell out of it.

"Fuck my liiiiiiiife." She cursed and rolled to her stomach. The sand was a soft enough landing, but her body was still protesting the rough landing. She pulled herself to her knees and looked around. She saw something in the distance, trees or maybe a town. Could she reach it? She pulled herself to her feet using the Arwing. It was damaged one wing was completely gone. There was no way she could fly it. "Fuck my lifeeeee" She said again. There was some train tracks to her right. Following them would give her a better chance of being spotted if she did collapse. She pulled herself back into the Arwing with a groan of effort. She breathed heavily and wiped her forehead. When she touched the left side she flinched. With more finesse this time she pawed at the area. It was a good lump and the gross texture of matted blood in her fur she knew she had been cut open too. She grabbed for her radio.

"This is Chondra. Is anyone there?" She asked.

She waited for a moment before some garbled static and voice came back to her. It sounded like Peppy but she wasn't sure. What the hell happened? She tossed the radio down and gathered whatever she could fit into her leather bag from her cockpit. The last thing she took was a picture of Soskk that she placed into a hidden pocket on her scabbard. She threw her bag and sword out of the Arwing and slid down after them. Her knees were weak when she landed but she still managed to stay on her feet. There was a gust of wind and Chondra dug in her bag for her spare shirt. She tore it in half, using one side to cover her muzzle and the other half to cover her head. With one last look down the railway she started to walk towards the town/forest in the distance. The sand wasn't deep and it was easy walking, the wind threatened to knock her over at times but never succeeded. She was just starting to stumble when she heard a motor. She stopped to look around. A hover car was coming towards her. Chondra knew that she should be wary, but she was just so happy to see someone. She waved once and then held her breath. Eventually the driver waved back and Chondra laughed she was so relieved.

"Ho there stranger!" The driver was a woman, a pretty blonde rabbit.

"Hey." Chondra said with a sigh. "I'm afraid I've crashed my ship." Chondra motioned to where her ship was. "It lost a wing. I don't think it's worth fixing."

"What about yourself? You got some fixing you need done?" The blonde rabbit asked. "Oh shoot. My name is Bec."

"Cho." Chondra said she allowed Bec to take her bag and put it in the hover car. Chondra sat down in one of the seats and sighed heavily. Bec got into the drivers seat and with one more look at Chondra she took off towards the town.

* * *

Tyronos wasn't quite sure where they all came from. It was finally looking like the team was going to be able to stop the fighting. Then they were surrounded, they took out some of the battling traders first they started to fire at Tyronos and Falco then. Tyronos dodged the first shot with a barrel roll, but the shot he dodged hit Falco. Falco had to fall back to the Great Fox. Fox started yelling for everyone to retreat. Then the ship blew up and demolished everything near it Slippy barely had time to yell when his ship was consumed by the explosion. There was no way he survived. Tyronos cursed as Fox yelled again for everyone to get back to the Great Fox. Tyronos looked around, with his eyes and with his Arwing for Chondra. She was nowhere. Fox was waiting for Krystal who was trying to lose the three ships tailing her. Tyronos took out one of them but had to move before he could get another shot. There were more enemy ships pouring in.

"You got to get out of here Fox." Tyronos yelled spinning again to lose his own tails. Fox charged after Krystal who was down to one ship. "Dammit Fox!"

Tyronos tried to catch up with them, but in the mess of ships he lost them. He banged his dash with frustration. Where the HELL was Chondra? Did she get killed in the explosion too? He circled again taking out a few more ships. He finally found Fox and Krystal. He swore loudly as he saw them being pulled into the belly of the largest ship in the battle.

"Fox and Krystal have been taken. You guys got to get out of here!" Tyronos yelled to the Great Fox.

Peppy was already leaving. Tyronos took off towards the surface of MacBeth. He landed on the outside of the closest settlement and bought a change of clothes. His instincts kicked in and he felt the need to disappear - to blend in. His only confirmed allies were (with any luck) on the other side of the system by now. He heard a crackle over his radio, Chondra's voice. Though it didn't bring him any comfort. She had disappeared with no warning. So she was alive, but what did that mean? Tyronos's mind blackened with old instincts kicked in.

Guilty until proven innocent seemed about right.


	4. Chapter 4

Bec was the owner of a small hostel/pawn shop. It was an odd pairing for sure, but strangely the two seemed to work good together. People could pay for their stay by selling off something they owned. Because of Chondra's head wound Bec was overly motherly. After taking great care to wash and dress the wound properly she forced Chondra to stay with her at least for the rest of the day. Chondra hid the fact that she couldn't remember a damn thing.

When she finally managed to sleep her dreams told her of the nightmare she that caused her to crash. So many ships had come, and they all started firing at once. Then there was the explosion, the yelling and as she fell toward the planet it was all she could do to keep herself alive. He hoped the rest of the crew had managed to get away. It didn't make any sense. Why would such huge numbers come for just a little skirmish, and why the explosion? She had to contact someone, or at least try. She wondered if Bec had any way of calling Corneria. Chondra sat herself up in the bed.

"Oh good!" Bec's voice from the doorway made Chondra look over. Bec had a glass of water and a plate with some toast on it in the other. "I made you a snack, I didn't know what you liked so it's just something really plain."

"Thank you." Chondra's voice was thick with mucus. She cleared her throat and got out of the bed to take the food. "Thank you." she repeated.

"Did you manage to fall asleep then?" Bec asked putting her hands on her hips when they were free of the glass and plate.

"Yes, thank you." Chondra said then drank half of the water in one go. Bec sat down beside Chondra and took another look at her head wound. She made a pleased face.

"It doesn't look infected. The edges are a nice pink colour." She said with a smile and replaced the bandages. Chondra ate her toast in as few bites as possible.

"My thanks again." Chondra said finishing off the toast and water. She stood with Bec and after defiantly holding the cup and plate followed Bec to the kitchen. "Bec, do you have anyway I could call Corneria?"

"Your home planet?" Bec asked finally taking the dishes back from Chondra who nodded in response to the question. "I don't but there is a place across town that can. You have to pay them in advance to use the phone but they don't care who or where you call."

"Thank you. I need to get a hold of my crew." Chondra explained. Bec smiled at her.

"I thought you might have been calling your boy." Bec was washing the two dishes that Chondra's snack had been on.

"I have one of them don't you worry Bec, but he wasn't up in the fight with me." Chondra smiled once more at Bec.

"Will you be taking off after your call?" Bec asked placing the now clean dishes on a rack to dry. "I know I can't keep yah here but if you are going to leave I'll do up some food for you."

"You're too kind Bec." Chondra said with a gentle nod of her head.

Bec waved it off and turned to get some food together as Chondra went back to the room she had been in to retrieve her sword and bag. She had strapped the sword to her back and was holding the bag when she rejoined Bec in the kitchen. Bec took the bag from her and put the smaller bag into it. She also motioned to Chondra to wait just a moment and she left the kitchen. Chondra took the time to peek into what food Bec had packed her and was pleased to see that it was mostly water and bread. There was a nice chunk of cheese too and some dried meat. Bec came back with two rolls of cloth.

"I noticed you used a shirt to wrap your head in." Bec said putting the two rolls into Chondra's bag. "Figured you could use a new spare, there is a sweater there too, believe it or not this old place gets cold after dark."

"I'd love to call you once I'm home safe." Chondra said letting Bec help her put on the bag.

"Just leave a message with the phone boys. They'll get your words to me. Go on now before we get sappy. Just don't be crashing onto any planets on your way home."

"I'll go straight home." Chondra laughed with a small salute.

Bec smiled in return and lent against the doorframe and watched Chondra out of sight before going back into her home and hostel. Chondra found the building with little problem. The man at the counter took her money and then pointed to where the transmitter was located. Chondra sat down in the chair provided and put on the headset. With one last look over her shoulder she entered the headquarters code and then waited. And waited. And waited. Finally she ended the call. No one had answered. Her heart pounded harshly in her chest. She entered the code for the Great Fox. Nothing. Falco, Fox, Krystal, Peppy and Slippy's codes all came back with nothing as well. One more number to try, then she would call Soskk. Tyronos.

Tyronos saw the person trying to contact him and he couldn't believe it. Chondra. "Ghost," flashed on the screen of his communicator. He scoffed and shook his head.

Was she really that dumb? She must have realized he was still alive and now she wanted to trick him into some kind of trap! He muted the call so the ringing wouldn't drive him nuts. His ship was being repaired now. He had taken only some minor damage in the fight nothing that any mechanic couldn't fix. Though that didn't stop him from keeping both his eyes firmly on the young mechanic who was working on his Arwing. He took some guilty pleasure in intimidating him. Tyronos was eager to get his ship back. He needed to start on his hunt for Chondra. Wherever she was he would find her and make her answer for what she had done. It would make sense that she would eventually go back to Soskk. Tyronos believed that the man was innocent, there was no way a man that honest would take part in such an asshole scheme.

"Umm. Sir?" The young mechanic was in front of Tyronos wiping his hands off on an almost clean rag. He was still looking nervous. "Your repairs are done. I didn't touch anything other than the hull, just like you said."

"I know kid." Tyronos grinned; he shook the mechanic's hand. "I usually do all the repairs myself. I'm not so comfortable with other people crawling all over her."

"I'm...er...flattered?" The mechanic stuttered and rubbed his neck. Tyronos shook his head and walked over to jump in his Arwing. After a shift to get his shoulders comfortable he eased his way into the sky and towards Corneria.

* * *

In a far off warehouse type building Fox McCloud had finally come to. Immediately he felt sore, his body was stiff and achy and after shaking his head he was able to open his eyes. He could see Krystal right away she was still unconscious, laying on a hard metal slab of a bed, chained to the wall by her wrists and ankles. Fox groaned and sat up. He was chained too and on a similar slab of a bed. There was a gash on his leg that was matted now and he tenderly touched it. How did he get that?

Oh yes. He had resisted.

"Krys." Fox whispered out hoarsely. He licked his lips and swallowed then tried again. "Krys!"

Krystal stirred much to Fox's relief. She looked around confused until she must have remembered where they were for she sat up quickly and looked around. "Fox!" she said. Her voice was full of fear, relief and pain.

"I'm glad you're awake." Fox said with a smile. "Do you know where we are?"

"Some kind of headquarters for whoever took us. I remember..." Krystal quickly covered her mouth with her hand and some tears fell from her eyes. "Slippy! He died in the explosion! They killed him."

"Aye and we'll kill the rest of you too. In time." A rough voice from the door made them look over. It was a grizzled looking bear. "How is it that the one named "Slippy" is the only one who didn't slip away?"

"You asshole!" Fox said standing he tried to punch the man in the face but his chains made him short by about six inches. The bear laughed and started to walk away. "Hey! Come back! I'm not done talking to you!"

"We got nuthin' to talk about Foxie. You just hold on tight until we get the rest of your pathetic crew in here. Then y'all can talk for hours." The bear turned around to deliver his last line. "That is until y'all die slowly and painfully."


	5. Chapter 5

_"What is it that makes a good assassin?"_

_"Loneliness."_

_"Just that?"_

_"Knowing when to ask for help."_

_"You just contradicted yourself."_

_"You're an assassin now. Contradictions are going to be your life."_

Chondra woke from her dream slowly. She was headed back to Corneria on a large bus type ship that was filled with screaming babies, kids running and laughing, mothers gossiping and dad's all bragging about how much money they had made in the mines on MacBeth. Chondra shifted in her corner, wearing the baggy waffle textured sweater that Bec had given her with her knees pulled in under it. Her sword was between her and the wall and she was leaning against her bag. She had pulled her arms into the sweater too. After she shifted around for a few more minutes she gave up and poked her arms back out the holes and reached for her bag. She pulled out one of the bottles of water and the bread, cheese and dried meat. She was cutting off some of the cheese when a small shadow made her look up.

"Hello." She said to the child. She was adorable; her little ears weren't quite strong enough to stay up on their own. She wore a pink floral dress and a white knit cardigan. She couldn't have been older than five years as she was still holding a stuffed animal with her free hand. The other hand was dedicated to the very important task of thumb sucking.

"Hi." The little girl said. Chondra finished cutting off a strip of cheese and watched the girl closely. If eyes could grab things, her cheese would be long gone. Chondra smiled and handed the cheese over to the girl, still holding it with her thumb and blade. When she didn't take it Chondra decided she was afraid to take it from the dagger and with a piece of bread pulled in half and the dried meat she put the cheese in the sandwich too and then handed it to the girl.

"Go on little one." Chondra ushered the girl. After placing her stuffed animal under her arm she took the sandwich shyly.

"Thank you." The girl said with a smile, thumb still firmly in her mouth. Chondra grinned as she started to cut another piece of cheese from the block and watched the girl run over to her family and hold up the sandwich. Chondra made sure to look down as the point was sent her way. When she looked up again she saw the mother breaking up the bread, cheese and meat into half, one for the girl and the other for her little brother. Chondra smiled when both the girl and her brother offered up part of their portion to their parents.

The little boy offered the top half of his bread, the girl the dried meat. She went back to her cheese, taking a bite of it before putting it on her own little sandwich. Chondra couldn't bring herself to stretch out her legs. This big ship was made to hold as many people as possible. It was barely heated and Chondra hated the cold. Not having any seats helped the sardine effect, but it meant sitting on the metal floor. On the bright side her water was delightfully cold and refreshing. She had just set her water down when another shadow cast over her.

"Um. Excuse me."

Chondra looked up. It was the mother of the little girl. She was holding a blanket in her hands. It looked hand knitted. "Hello." Chondra said.

"I just wanted to thank you; my kids haven't had cheese in such a long time. They love it but..." The woman was obviously embarrassed by their poverty. Chondra stood up. "We don't have much food, but we have lots of blankets and you just... look so cold."

Chondra smiled and took the blanket and wrapped it around herself, she started to feel warmer instantly. The woman looked positively ecstatic that Chondra had taken the blanket. Before she could turn away Chondra caught her arm gently and motioned for her to wait. She dug out the last of her cheese, a good 4 by 2 inch cube and handed it to the mother. "Take it." Chondra said pressing it into her hands. "I know a good blanket when I see it. It's worth more than just a scrape of cheese."

"Ah, um. Thank you." The woman said flustered. Chondra nodded and curled up in her corner again. The blanket made her very happy. She looked over at the little family again. The kids were opened mouthed with awe, the dad grinned from ear to ear and pulled out a little knife to cut the cheese with while the mom dug in their own bags to pull out some stiff bread. Chondra shut her eyes and relaxed. Know when to ask for help. She smiled. Knowing when to help is just as important.

Soskk was waiting for her at the landing. He pulled her in close and hugged her tightly. It was like her assassin days. Chondra didn't realize comfortable she had gotten with her life as merc and not an assassin. Soskk was happier...but now they were back to the old days of worry and insomnia. She hug him closer and fought the urge to cry. When they finally broke apart Chondra picked up the blanket that she set on top of her bag, Soskk took the bag and with her sword in hand they walked back to Soskk's garage.

Chondra usually said no to making love as soon as she got back from an assassination. Soskk was strange and needy, almost angry with her. Today, whether it was her own guilt in her heart or her own need to feel protected and safe again she let him. He was sleeping now, still holding her protectively. She lay awake. She was afraid to go back to Starfox HQ, what if they were all dead? She gently removed herself from Soskk's embrace and pulled on some new clothes. Then pulled her hair back in a pony tail and was pulling on socks when Soskk finally woke up.

"Heading back to HQ?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm gunna see if anyone is there anyway." Chondra said pulling on her second sock and then standing. She looked at Soskk for a moment and understood that he did not want her to go. "I'll be back soon ok. I'm not going to hang out." Soskk nodded and got out of bed to get dressed himself. Chondra knew he was annoyed with her leaving so soon. She needed to go before her stupid ability to move on kicked in. If they were dead she would move on, if not she would stay. She smiled when she realized she very much wished to stay. She exited the garage using the apartment exit on the side. There were a couple people waiting for Soskk's "Out to lunch" sign to be taken down. She slipped by them as fast as she could to avoid the annoying "oh so that's where he was" glances. With increasing feelings of dread she walked towards HQ.

* * *

To say that he didn't trust her would be stating the obvious. Tyronos had reached the planet of Corneria before she did. When he didn't find any trace of her in Starfox HQ he had started to wonder if she had already taken off with whatever bounty she had won and was now off to some back ass planet to lay low for a while. He knew that Falco and Peppy would be laying low themselves – but for very different reasons. Tyronos sighed heavily as he looked at the empty hall that should hold all their ships. He felt unsettled, like wearing a pair of shoes for the first time. He shook his head and continued to walk through the building until he got to Fox's office. He turned on the computer and after a few tries managed to unlock Fox's system.

"You always did trust people too much." Tyronos grumbled starting to go through Fox's files.

There were a few old mission logs. A few copies of reports Fox had sent to various old contacts who had made use of Fox's team. Tyronos read a few of the more interesting ones. Some were familiar – he had taken part in the mission. Some were from days when he still a loner. Moving on to a different folder he stumbled on the team's profiles. He looked over the names.

"Goddamit Slippy." Tyronos sighed and opened the file with the name he had just cursed. He exhaled as he scrolled down quickly and then back to the top. He highlighted the empty "deceased" section and filled in the date of the attack. He stared at it for a few moments and then saved the document. It wasn't official but Tyronos would be damned before anyone forgot the exact day Slippy had fallen. He took one more look at Slippy's profile picture and then went back to the rest of the files. Slippy had been the first one to reach out to him...and to Chondra. "Damn trusting fools."

With a touch of bitterness he opened Chondra's file. There was no picture of course, Tyronos snorted. Most of the data was filed out. No doubt Fox had paid someone a good chunk of change for these details. Chondra was actually being scouted before Tyronos had found her on Kew. Tyronos shook his head. Fox must have been just tickled to see her following Tyronos home. He went on to read Fox's own notes on her.

_Chondra "Ghost."_

_Skills: Hand to hand, sword play, combat stealth, stealth movement, athleticism (very good at climbing -ask for lessons.)_

_Weaknesses: Limited blaster skills, minimal interest in improving them, quick to kill, highly sociable but unwilling to form real relationships with team members. Trust is still an issue._

_Notes: So far she is getting along well with the team. Krystal seems to have taken a liking to her and they train together often. Adding some hand to hand skills to the team is going well. Not forgetting she is a trained assassin I have been keeping a close eye on her. Tyronos has some grudge against her, no doubt because of their meeting on Kew. Trying to get an answer would be pointless. Will continue to build trust and try for answers later._

"Trust is an issue. No shit." Tyronos grumbled leaving the file. His ear twitched as his eyes settled on his own folder. He raised an eyebrow and clicked on it.

_Tyronos "Hopeless"_

_Skills: Arwing (hell of a pilot), gets nice and pissed off, good shot, repairs (ask about Arwing upgrades...again), loyal_

_Weaknesses: Temper, irrational (at times), trust issues, problem with authority_

_Notes: After our rocky start he seems to be getting along well with the team. Still not open but he's loyal now. Which I know means he's loyal for good. Trust is coming along well, at least he's eating with us. He and Falco have formed a little pilot rivalry – this is very good. Also can't forget about his Bounty Hunter years, he is prone to anger and still has a certain lust for fighting. He and Chondra are getting along. There seems to be a bit of a kinship forming because of their pasts (and a shared appreciation for a joint after missions.) Still can't stop him from taking off for Kew for some side income. Will try a raise._

"Asshole never did give me a raise." Tyronos said after looking at the date the file was updated on. He stretched for a bit looking at his profile. His picture was old he was young and moody. With a snort of laughter he closed the file and started digging for more information. When he was done he started to wander through the upper levels closing bedroom doors and sighing heavily. He was about to go back down the stairs when he heard someone enter the building. The door opening broke a perfect silence. Tyronos knew who it was. It had to be Chondra.

He looked around for cover; under the stairs was his only option. He tossed himself over the side catching the railing and swinging under the stairs. He looked through them in the direction that the person had to be coming from. He gripped his blaster tightly and hoped with every fiber of his being that it was Chondra. He grinned when he saw that it was. He watched her for a bit, she put her hands on her hips when she saw that the great hall was empty.

"Admiring your work?" He said stepping out of the shadows with his blaster drawn.

"Tyronos! What the hell!" Chondra said getting into a defensive position. She had no weapon.

"I should kill you immediately." Tyronos said getting closer. "But I'm interested – from a professional standpoint. How much did you get?"

"Get for what?" Chondra asked getting annoyed. "Tyronos my ass was blown out of the sky."

"Conveniently." Tyronos said.

"Are you HIGH? What the fuck are you talking about?" Chondra growled. The two were circling each other now.

"Enough. If you aren't going to talk I'm done." Tyronos said and took a shot. Chondra barely dodged it by rolling towards the stairs. She started to run.

"You fucking..." She said and then bolted up the stairs. Tyronos shot at her again it clipped her right shoulder. "Fucksake Tyronos!"

Tyronos followed her up the stairs she was fast, even with the shoulder injury. Tyronos had expected as such – going up against "Ghost" was not in his top ten list of thing to do with his life. She took a turn into a room and shut the door quickly. Tyronos snorted and continued to run until he was in front of the door and then kicked it.

"I'm not playing games Ghost!"

"I've noticed!" Chondra called with slight hysteria. She looked around the room – Falco's room – for something to use as a weapon. She went to the dresser and opened the top drawer. Tyronos kicked the door again she flinched away from the noise. There was nothing in the top drawer; she went for the next one, then the next until she had pulled all of them open. Over to the desk next she grabbed the scissors from the desk organizer and put it in her mouth. She crossed the room to the bed as another kick from Tyronos made her flinch. She quickly made a cut into Falco's pillowcase and then pulled a strip off of it. The scissors went back in her mouth and she wrapped the cloth around her hand then went over to the door. She waited for a second – calming her self and then opened the door. Using the top of the doorframe she pulled herself up and kicked Tyronos as hard as he could. It made him stumbled but that was about it. She cursed mentally and then landed, kicking behind her again. The kick made Tyronos fall forward and she ran down the hall. She needed someplace to hide, somewhere with a real weapon.

The kitchen.

Her mind made up she ran as fast as she could to the kitchen and locked herself in. Once there she grabbed the whole knife block and hid in a corner. Breathing heavily she looked at her shoulder. It was gross. Wrinkling her nose and hissing a bit she used the strip of cloth from Falco's room to bandage it. Then waited for Tyronos to find her.

Tyronos wasn't an idiot. He knew exactly where he would go in the same situation as Chondra. She was unarmed (except for her feet). The kitchen was the only place guaranteed to have some form of weapon. He approached the kitchen slowly in no rush to get a knife to the face. He wished he had some flash bombs or some other distraction to keep her occupied. He opened the door but didn't enter yet.

"You're fucking insane Hopeless!" Chondra called to him.

"Insane for what? Trying to kill you?" Tyronos laughed.

"Yes!" Chondra said exasperated.

"As it goes I'm the only armed one here." Tyronos taunted her and wagged his blaster in front of the door. A steak knife whipped past his wrist. "Duly noted!" He heard her laugh and then he took his chance diving into the kitchen. Chondra immediately threw some knives at him. They were mostly useless, as they were not designed to be thrown at people. Tyronos ducked and then took some shots at her.

"Fuck my life." Chondra said jumping over a shot that was aimed at her legs. She held a knife in each hand. Twisting to dodge another shot she threw one of them at Tyronos. He dodged it easily and she took off running again.

"Would you just." Tyronos growled chasing after her. She was on her way back to the main hall. He took some more shots and yelled "Stay still!"

"Counter productive!" Chondra called back. She was almost there and she tripped. Tyronos was running after her and paused to shoot again when he saw her falling.

"Not to me!" Tyronos laughed.

"Such an asshole!" Chondra groaned as she picked herself up again after barrel rolling to miss the shot.

She had to ditch the knife – tossing it away so she didn't land on it. When she got up again she was unarmed, her shoulder was bleeding through its bandage and she was more tired that she wanted to be. Still she had to keep running. Tyronos was already catching up to her. She made it to the stairs but halfway down she tripped and fell the rest of the way. She cried out in pain as she landed. With a groan she moaned and rolled on her back. Tyronos's blaster was instantly in her face.

"Fuck Tyronos. Could you at least tell me what I did to you?"

"You sold them out." Tyronos said calmly. "What the hell Cho. I mean…" Tyronos's anger was fading now replaced by confusion, sadness.

"Who did I sell out?" Chondra asked eyebrows raised. She was feeling full on confusion her voice raised in pitch because of it.

"The team! Our team!" Tyronos said. "For the life of me I don't know why I felt like you felt anything for them."

"I did Tyronos!" Chondra said getting angry. She pulled herself up Tyronos still held the blaster to her face. "I came here looking for everyone. Why would I come back here if I sold them out? You think I would go out of my way to start a fight with you?"

"You might be that crazy." Tyronos said.

"You're that crazy!" Chondra said, her voice went high again.

"I don't believe you." Tyronos said he gripped his blaster.

"Fuck my life." Chondra said softly and shut her eyes. Just as Tyronos was going to pull the trigger alarms and sirens from outside made them both stop and look at each other.

"What the HELL is that?" Tyronos growled.


	6. Chapter 6

Their conflict forgotten Chondra and Tyronos ran outside to see what the commotion was. People were running past them so Tyronos and Chondra looked in the direction they were all running. An impossible amount of smoke was rising fairly close to them. Chondra felt her heart freeze – then started running. Tyronos followed after a moment. Pushing people out of her way to get close enough to hopefully deny what her instincts told her was the source of the smoke.

They were right.

She watched the burning garage with wide eyes. People were yelling, the firefighters doing their best to quell the blaze. People said there was no use, not with all those flammable liquids in there. Chondra however couldn't process anything. The only thing that existed was the burning garage, and it felt like that was all there ever would be. Noises were garbled; the air seemed to thin out like it was running away from her. Slowly she began to feel her heart beating against her chest. She was confused and it was reflected on her face. Someone ran into her and it cause her to turn. It was then she saw Tyronos.

"You fucking asshole!" She yelled pointing aggressively at the burning building. "Do you fucking believe me now?"

"Dammit." Tyronos watched her run towards the burning garage. He knew that he couldn't catch up with her and pulled out his blaster and calmly shot her in the thigh. She fell to the ground and people screamed. Tyronos went over and picked her up tossing her over his shoulder roughly. She screamed and hit and kicked.

"Fuck you Hopeless. Fucking. Soskk! Goddamit." He put her on the ground against a wall in the closest alley.

As soon as he had let go of her she tried to run again but crumbled as soon as her damaged leg hit the ground. A man poked his head in the alley way and Tyronos held his blaster up to him and growled, "Leave." With hands up he backed out of the alley. Chondra pulled herself upright again. Tyronos grabbed her as turned to leave.

"You know it would be suicide!" He growled squeezing her upper arms tightly. "How will that avenge him?"

"I don't want to avenge him you fuck! I want to save him!" Chondra growled back and shook viciously trying to dislodge Tyronos's grip. She started to cry finally. "You asshole! Why the fuck did you shoot me?"

"I need you Ghost! We need to find out who the hell did this and kill them!" Tyronos let her fall to the ground and she sobbed.

"You selfish prick." She said. Tyronos turned away from her.

"You know that the people who did this likely killed Slippy too and took Fox and Krystal." He said.

Chondra pulled herself up again but after a step she fell. Tyronos caught her and set her on the ground, looking at her wounded thigh. "Chondra." He said softly with a sigh.

"Don't you fucking say sorry." Chondra growled glaring at Tyronos who had ripped a strip off of the bottom of his shirt and was now wrapping it around her leg. "How the fuck could you know how I'm feeling?"

Tyronos tied off the cloth tightly and picked Chondra up roughly by the collar of her shirt. He pinned her against the wall and looked directly into her eyes. "I'm the only one on this planet who knows exactly how you feel. You caused his death and now you want to die. Right? I did at first too." Tyronos let her go and Chondra looked away. Tyronos ran his free hand through his hair. "You know it wouldn't feel good for a while but then you get better."

"Better?" Chondra looked at him viciously. He met her gaze.

"Yes." He said taking a step back. "You get angry."

Chondra felt something in her soul react to what Tyronos had said. With out looking at her he put her arm around his shoulder, holstered his blaster and then the two walked down the alleyway and away from the commotion.

"We're going to need money...and info."

"In that order too." Chondra sighed.

Through some of Chondra's contacts, and one of Tyronos's the two had a place to hide. It was a midsized ship just barely big enough to hold a single Arwing in its hall. It wasn't as comfortable as the Great Fox but it didn't stand out like it either. They had clothes and food enough, but money was already tight and what they needed was going to be more than what their current allies could give them. Chondra had healed enough to walk and was currently pacing behind Tyronos in the cockpit of the ship swinging her new sword around trying to get used to the weight and balance of it. Tyronos brought a planet map up. Chondra looked over at it.

"Kew. Seriously?" She said. "I go there because of jobs, not to get jobs."

"Kew is the best place to make quick money Ghost." Tyronos said spinning the planet map around and highlighting a city. "Everyone here has a price. For their lives and for their information."

"Two birds with one stone." Chondra smirked.

"Two birds with two stones." Tyronos corrected her and turned to face her. "You want to do the hit or start digging?"

"Both." Chondra said. "I'll take a hit and look for information and you'll do the same. That way we don't risk looking like we're still on the same team right? Everyone is going to notice us anyway. We don't need to show up together and call even more attention to ourselves."

"Fine but I'm going to take my Arwing in. You'll take this ship – it was your call that got us it anyway."

"It was your call that got it off the ground." Chondra said. "But we'll do it your way."

"Good." Tyronos said walking by her, he held a finger up over his shoulder as he walked out of the cockpit. "Your antishitshow magic is on the seat."

"Aye aye." Chondra laughed sitting down in the chair Tyronos was just in and then lent over to get the familiar rolled paper from the only other seat in the cockpit. "No shit shows."

Tyronos smirked to himself as he heard her light a match and then light the cigarette. He went to his Arwing called for the bay door to open and then launched. After changing his approach so it was different than Chondra's he set his ship to autopilot and pulled a joint of his own out of his pocket. He took a puff and got comfortable. After a few moments of silence he called Chondra on the radio. "Hey Cho."

"Yes Ty." She answered sounding suspicious.

"First one with a hit completed wins." He said and then bit his lip to hold back a laugh as he waited for a response.

"What do I win?" Chondra said. Tyronos barely had a moment to think when Chondra spoke again. "Wait. Never mind. You're on asshole."

"Send encrypted message with "Ghost." when you're done. I'll do the same with "Hopeless." No cheating."

"I don't have to cheat you ass." Chondra laughed.

Tyronos shut off the connection and she watched his ship disappear from her radar. Focusing on getting a target would keep her mind off of Soskk. After scavenging what she could from the remains of Soskk's garage the only thing she could find was Soskk's ring. It was still on the sink where he had left it while washing his hands. She hid away in the ship's bathroom curled up between the sink and shower and cried for an hour. Tyronos heard her but he didn't say anything. She never doubted that he knew how she felt. Something deep in his eyes the suffering or the guilt. Maybe it was just because he didn't yell at her to stop crying. One day she wanted to find out his story. She knew that someone out there might have the story but she knew she would never hunt it out. She wanted the story the honest way. Long after her wounds had fully healed.

She shook herself back into reality and prepared herself for landing on Kew. She knew better than to land too far away from any settlements. That was asking for trouble. She settled on the outskirts of the main city. Most people landed there and there were always a few street kids she could pay to keep an eye on her ship. The more you paid the taller and uglier the kid.

After setting the autopilot to take her to the surface she left the cockpit to get dressed for the planet. It was easy enough to blend in here, but it was better for her to stand out. She needed to look cocky. Arrogant. That way she could take higher up jobs from richer clients and make more money from one kill. She tossed on a long sleeve shirt and some pants that fit her well. A long coat covered the short sword on her left thigh and the dagger on her right calf. Her sword as always went to on her back. A hip pouch left for her by Tyronos held the gold coins that were favoured on Kew. She strapped it on with a smirk.

When the ship landed Chondra exited the ship and looked around. The street kids all came running. One of them only came to her waist. She raised an eyebrow but otherwise didn't address him. There was a girl in her teens sitting on a barrel to her far right. She always favoured the girls. She walked over and offered ten coins. The girl looked up. "Ten if you'll go watch my ship."

"Ok." The girl said and hopped off her barrel and walked over to the ship she had just watch land. Chondra caught her by the arm as she walked by. "What?" The girl snapped.

"It doubles if all my shit is still on it." Chondra said giving her the coins. The girl's face hardened with determination and she nodded. Chondra smiled at her and tapped her butt as she walked by then kept on walking into town.

* * *

Tyronos set his Arwing down in his usual place closer to town. He was used to the life here, some days he still longed for the simple survivalist way on Kew. He tossed some coins to a teen he thought looked promising and then walked into town. He went to the closest bar and looked around. There were some kids in the corner. He walked over to them.

"Who's worth anything here?" He asked sitting down.

"Ain't tellin you shit." Said the tallest in the group. Tyronos looked at him with a eyebrow raised.

"And I'm not talking to you." Tyronos said. He leant closer to the youngest looking one at the table and smirked. "Tell me little one. Who is worth anything here? I need some quick cash."

"Jasp there." The youngest said holding out his hand and pointing with the other. Tyronos looked over. "Jasp" was a rough looking bird with a scar through his eye. He didn't wear an eye patch.

"Who want's him?" Tyronos said giving the boy some coins.

"The bartender three sections over. Bring him Jasp's gun, he'll know he's dead." The boy said. "People are going to fight you for the gun once he's dead. It's the only reason he's still alive."

"Well then you better clear out." Tyronos said standing and drawing his blaster. "I aim to fight back."

Without pausing Tyronos lifted his blaster to shoulder level and aimed carefully. Jasp was looking right at him with an angry confusion. Tyronos grinned and pulled the trigger. People started to scatter, or take advantage of the first shot and kill someone else in the bar. The kids were long gone. Waiting outside to for the place to clean so they could pick over the bodies for coin and valuables. Jasp needed one more shot before he was good and dead. Tyronos flipped his blaster around and punched a bulldog with the butt end as he walked quickly to the corpse of Jasp. Most people around him were all frozen. Covered with blood and still in shock because of the sudden blast.

"Amateurs." Tyronos grumbled leaning over Jasp and then pulling his blaster out of his holster.

It was a custom job and the detailing was gorgeous. Tyronos was sad he had to give it over. He turned and looked. His random act of violence was too much for this crew with a blank face and a wave Tyronos left the bar. The kids pointed in the direction he needed to go and after fixing the strap of his bag on his shoulder he sent an encrypted message to Chondra. He was done.

"That asshole." Chondra groaned looking at her communicator.

She could just see his smug face. She looked around the pub she had settled into. She was waiting for a familiar face. When she was last on Kew she was after this same person. Of course because of Tyronos going after a target of his own she had lost her target. Today she planned on getting them once and for all. She was drinking vodka straight. The alcohol here was strong, nothing numbed her lips like it. She finished off her third shot and set it down with a sigh. "Come on Kish..."

Kish was a notorious human cargo trafficker. Shut him down and he has a new operation on a new planet a week later. Many didn't like him but he had either paid for or otherwise secured enough loyalty that he didn't feel very threatened. Kish was supposed to be Chondra's be all and end all as far as her assassination career went. When she missed him the first time she hardly had time to be upset about it, with Fox taking her on as an employee and all. Now she did have some time to get mad at Kish. Plus some shit that he didn't do but she still could take out on him. She grinned.

"Herrreee Kishy Kishy Kishy." Chondra leered to no one as she took her last drink to a new table.

She was in her favourite place, the furthest corner from the door. Here she watched everyone come and go. She looked at the time again on her communicator, she needed to wrap this up and see about some information. Tyronos was probably way a head of her by now. She groaned and stood. Maybe she needed a different target today. She got up and started to leave the bar, pausing to get one more shot of the delicious vodka.

"No business after all Ghost?" The bartender said placing the vodka shot in front of her. "I'm sad my bar has failed you finally."

"Had to happen one day." Chondra grinned and took the shot and drank it in one go. She looked at the glass for a moment before setting it down. As soon as the glass clunked down on the table the door to the pub opened and Chondra looked over.

"Ah, Ghost-bitch. Here for round two?"

"Ah look at this. Your bar hasn't failed me after all." Chondra grinned and winked at the bartender. Kish walked up to stand beside Chondra. "Look at you Kish. Walking up to me like you don't know I want to kill you."

"Oh." Kish said leaning against the counter facing. "Is that what you were trying to do? Whiskey please."

"Whiskey." Chondra shuddered watching Kish drink. "I don't know how you stand the stuff."

"You of all people understand what people like you and me can get used to." Kish said setting down the drink. "Stay classy Ghost."

"Turn your back to me?" Chondra growled as Kish turned and started to walk away. She drew her sword and a shot was fired. The whole pub went silent.

"Not-what." Kish huffed in pain. "I had in mind."

"Turn your back to me?" Chondra growled. "You knew I wanted to kill you Kish, but you walked away?"

She was holding her side, one of Kish's goons had shot her, but with her other hand she was holding her sword. Kish looked down at the bloody sword that was protruding through him.

"I-didn't-expect...this." Kish said and fell to his knees. "They. They said...you were -out-out of the business."

"You know know better Kish. We can never leave the business." Chondra said pulling her sword free and looking at Kish's gaggle. They looked menacing, confused but otherwise still. Chondra took a few steps sideways and then ran out of the bar. She growled at someone who made eye contact with her and then ducked into an alley. She checked to see if she was followed and then coughed as she lent against the wall. As she cleared her throat she punched in a message to Tyronos.

_Fucking got shot. Collecting bounty and then heading to my contact's place. Her name is Codec. Use locate function to find it. I'll make myself search-able.  
_  
With a grunt of effort she kicked herself off the wall and started down the alley towards the home of the man who ordered the hit on Kish. It was easy enough to find the house, and not many people dared to lie about a hit on this planet. Honor was all people had. Chondra collected her money through a hole in the door and then made her way to Codec's home.

Tyronos was a little annoyed that Chondra had managed to get herself shot. He was having some luck with the information hunt. The money he earned from his random hit was enough to get some leads but not names. He wasn't going to pay for names until he knew which lead to follow. He hadn't heard of Codec before, but since Chondra was so reputable Codec must be good. He wasn't the type to favour one person for information; he just felt it wasn't safe. He was tailing Chondra's location from a couple streets over. Peering down alley's to get an idea of where he was. Kew was a hot spot for all sorts, but it still struck Tyronos as odd that someone would live here.

"I guess everyone runs away differently." Tyronos mumbled to himself.

Chondra's position was pretty consistent now so he started walking over to her location. The place was simple enough. It looked like any of the other group homes on Kew. It was a large building with lots of kids and teens hanging about. He saw some kids huddled together counting out coins and distributing them evenly. They looked over when they heard Tyronos get close. "How'd you get those?"

"Not by stealin'!" One of the kids said quickly. "We earned um!"

"I don't doubt that." Tyronos said crossing his arms. "Ghost came through here. White, bleeding?"

"Yah!" Said the kid, probably the leader of the little gang. "Went up to see Momma Codec. She ain't bleedin too bad."

"How much she's bleeding doesn't really bother me. Skin grows back. Which way to Codec?" Tyronos said tossing the kid a single coin. "That makes you even."

"Thanks." The kid said passing the coin to the one child who was short one. He pointed over his shoulder. "Just go upstairs. No kids allowed up there, so kick 'um in the ass if you see any. Nosy assholes."

"Sure will kid." Tyronos laughed and then went past the group to enter the building.

The bottom floor was open, like a warehouse except the shelving was made into beds. He found the stairs and fixed his eyes on them. Ty was wary of all the eyes looking at him and his bag. These kids knew what a bounty hunter looked like, and they knew what a full coin purse sounded like too. The kids were anywhere from ten to fifteen. Some were older, but everyone grew up fast here. As soon as you were tall or strong enough to take someone's life you left to make your own life, paying kids for the same things you did growing up like some strange circle of life. He reached the stairs and climbed them quickly disappearing down a hallway. He looked down at Chondra's location again and used it to find what room she was in.

"Good Hopeless." Chondra said as soon as he turned into the room she turned off her signal. She handed him some cloth. "Fix my stupidity will you?"

"That's going to take more than a bandage Ghost." Tyronos said in a monotone taking the cloth. Chondra rolled her eyes and lifted her arms so he had a clear go at wrapping the bandage. "But I will patch you up."

"He sounds like you Cho." The woman at the computer said. Tyronos looked over at her. She turned in her chair and grinned. "Like a sarcastic asshole."

"Have you met any assassin or bounty hunter who wasn't an asshole?" Chondra laughed. Tyronos finished with the bandage.

"Yes." Codec said standing and walking over. "Can't trust them for shit."

"Hopeless, this is Codec." Chondra said pulling down her shirt again and then pulling a light sweater over top. "Codec. Hopeless."

"Pleasure." Codec said shaking Tyronos's hand. Tyronos looked at her emotionless. "Don't be so cold Hopeless. You can trust me."

"We'll see." Tyronos said taking his hand back.

"I'd tell you my name to earn your trust, but I don't have one. Not anymore." Codec said going back to her seat.

"Why is that?" Tyronos said walking over to the nearest wall and leaning against it.

"Names are for people who exist. I haven't had that pleasure in years." Codec said with a smile. Tyronos raised an eyebrow.

"And I'm supposed to trust you?" Tyronos said. "You don't need to disappear without making some enemies."

"Tell the truth too freely, and you make a lot of enemies." Codec said with a shrug.

"Then why is it worth it?" Tyronos asked.

"Because you make friends for the same reason." Codec grinned again. She was a Siamese type with great markings. She was malnourished and it kept her from being as attractive as she should be. It was hard to say if she did that to herself on purpose, or because people who don't exist don't get to go out for groceries. "Now Cho. What brings you, other than your fetish for bleeding on me?"

"Bleeding on you is my favourite pastime." Chondra grinned from her seat on the day bed in the room. "You know I couldn't come to Kew and not indulge myself."

"You might live longer if you stop." Tyronos said quietly, his voice was thick with sarcasm.

"Man has a point Cho." Codec said holding up one finger. She was staring into her computers again. There were four monitors in total. Two of them were streaming binary; the other two were flooded with layers of profiles. "But seriously. I like making money. Especially from you."

"That's love there." Chondra said to Tyronos who laughed and exhaled. Chondra stood and walked over to Codec. "I need some information."

"Indeed. I didn't think you came here for a pizza." Codec said. "Point please."

"Starfox McCloud." Chondra said. "He was kidnapped. He and his girlfriend."

"Oh. By you? They're worth a lot. Good catch." Codec said.

"We're didn't kidnap them." Tyronos said harshly. "We need to find them."

"Sheeeesh." Codec drawled. "Okay. Okay. Ain't anything to get bitchy about."

"We're very serious Codec." Chondra said putting her hand on the cat's shoulder. "You can find anyone. We need to know who, how many and where."

"Codec: A device capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal." Codec said. "My name sake is no mistake Cho. I can get it."

"How long?" Tyronos said.

"Give me a day and I can have what they ate for dinner." Codec grinned. "The more time I have the more details I get. That is, once I have them."

"How long until you have them then?" Chondra asked.

"Hang around and you'll see for yourself." Codec said turning to face them. "That is unless you have something better to do?"

Chondra looked over at Tyronos. He shrugged. Chondra tilted her head and he nodded. They would stay until Codec had something to give them.


	7. Chapter 7

_Tyronos walked calmly down a long hallway. It's walls seemed warm and familiar. There was very little light, making it hard for him to see what type of floor he was walking on. "I've been here before." He whispered, desperately searching his mind for a memory, anything that would give this place a name. Then it hit him. "No!" He began to run. This couldn't be happening, how could he handle his demons without her here to help? Something caught his foot, causing him to fall to the ground hard. Blinding lights flashed on as he turned to see what had tripped him. The once warm walls had become cold with blood. Her blood. "No, no no..." Tyronos looked all around him, everything seemed to be covered in her blood. _

_"You caused this..."_

_"Zarah." The voice repeated itself over and over, until Tyronos howled in torment._

The mental howl he made was enough to bring him out of his nightmare. He shivered, even in the warmth of Kew's atmosphere. Nothing could bring her back, he knew that in his mind and his heart. But that never protected him from his dreams.

"Your watch isn't for another hour." Chondra's voice made Tyronos look over. She was sitting in the window of the room that Codec had given them to stay in.

"I'll take over early." Tyronos said getting out of bed and pulling on his vest.

"Double watch." Chondra said looking out the window. "I'm not ready to sleep just yet."

"Yeah." Tyronos said rubbing the back of his neck and walking over to the window. "I never thought I'd be ready to sleep again."

"The nightmares are pretty harsh then?" Chondra asked still looking out the window.

"They are the manifestation of guilt." Tyronos said walking away. "As strong as your guilt is, with all the horrors that you make yourself feel."

"I see him burning when I just close my eyes." Chondra said softly. "When I sleep I'm afraid I'll hear his screams."

"His voice will haunt you." Tyronos said softly. "There's no running from that."

"Then what are you running from?" Chondra asked getting off the window sill and following Tyronos.

"Who says I'm running away. Maybe I'm running to something. Hell, maybe I'm just running because it's all I got left." Tyronos said. They entered the kitchen. It was clean like it hadn't even been used. Chondra expected it hadn't. Not in a while anyway. Tyronos opened cupboards until he found some coffee grounds and a coffee maker. He set to washing them. Chondra came over to dry the pieces and put them back together.

"So what happens after we find Fox and Krystal?" Chondra asked.

"We go back to Corneria. Keep on taking missions." Tyronos replied handing the carafe over to Chondra. She dried the outside and then started to fill it with water. Tyronos prepared the grounds.

"Just like that. A reset." Chondra said with a soft laugh filling the coffee maker with the water. "How delightfully simple."

"It's how it has to be." Tyronos said simply closing the top of the coffee maker and turning it on. "Not a reset. A carrying on."

"I never thought I'd see the day where that was hard for me." Chondra sighed leaning against the table. There was gunshots outside. They didn't even flinch.

"Soskk was a good man." Tyronos nodded. He was leaning against the counter crossing his arms.

"Zarah must have been a good woman too." Chondra said.

"Yeah." Tyronos said looking at the coffee maker. "She was."

Chondra looked over at Tyronos trying to read his expression and body language. But she was shut out. Tyronos was as calm collected and cold as ever. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Maybe she'd have to accept the idea that they'd never really be a team without Fox around. When the coffee was done Tyronos got some mugs and poured them both a cup.

"There's no better place than Kew for a couple of insomniacs." Chondra said after a while. She was ploughing through her coffee. "What you say we go play with the kids downstairs?"

"Why not. Beats just hanging around sitting on our asses." Tyronos shrugged. He drank the rest of his coffee quickly and then the pair walked downstairs.

"Ghost!"

"You're back!"

"Hello again little ones." Chondra smiled as they walked down the stairs. "You remember me?"

"Of course!" Said one of the girls. "Will you train with us again?"

"No way. I knocked Evan the fuck out last time." Chondra said crossing her arms. "No more."

"Evan was a pussy!" laughed the girl. "I could knock him out."

"Even so. No way." Chondra said.

"Then you and him spar. We'll watch your form and learn that way." said another of the teens.

"I dunno guys." Chondra sighed relaxing her arms.

"Why not." Tyronos shrugged taking off his vest.

"Seriously?" Chondra asked raising an eyebrow, hands on hips.

"I'm curious." Tyronos smirked and got into a fighting stance.

"Why the hell not." Chondra finally gave in and the kids cheered. She took off her sweater and put it on the head of the nearest child who pulled it on properly. "Might be fun when you're not a raging homicidal lunatic."

"That is my idea of fun." Tyronos said with a deathly grin.

"Right." Chondra said cracking her neck and then spinning into a high kick. Tyronos caught her foot and pushed it away. The kids cheered and whooped. Chondra landed on her hands and spun again to dodge Tyronos's punch, he knew she would so he aimed a low kick to her shoulder and knocked her over on her ass. "Okay. I'm stupid. I know." She said getting to her feet.

"Just predictable." Tyronos leered with a toothy grin.

"You're such a fuck-" Chondra growled she ran and readied a punch. Tyronos caught it but was surprised when Chondra used the momentum to launch herself over Tyronos, landing behind him and kicking him to his knees. Not leaving any time for recovery she kicked again. Tyronos barely got his hand up in time to protect the side of his head. He was still sent to the ground with the force.

"Now it gets fun." Tyronos laughed getting up quickly and retaking his stance. "C'mon now crazy bitch."

Chondra laughed in response and started to attack again. Tyronos blocked the first couple attacks, but then let the last attack hit him. Chondra readied herself to switch tactics when Tyronos countered catching her ankle and tossing her to the ground. With a growl of annoyance she kicked out with her feet, in a sweeping motion. Tyronos jumped to dodge but Chondra rolled to her stomach and kicked herself upright. She caught him with a elbow to his stomach. Tyronos blinked away the pain and countered with a pressure point grasp to her shoulder. She crumbled.

"Fuck!" Chondra cried out. "Cheap!"

"Effective." Tyronos corrected while he laughed releasing the hold. Chondra fell forward holding her shoulder, forehead on the ground.

"Ughhaahhh." Chondra groaned recovering finally and getting to her feet. She shook her head and hopped twice towards Tyronos on one foot, preparing a round house kick that was sure to knock some sense into Tyronos. Ty didn't count on such a high kick and the blow landed, catching Tyronos in the jaw. There were some cheers as Tyronos picked himself up again and checked his teeth with his tongue, making sure they were all still there.

"Bitch." Tyronos laughed.

"God damn you are fucked in the head." Chondra laughed too. They were both still in attack positions.

"Hey! Momma Codec!"

Everyone looked up at stairs and railing. Codec was there with a cup of coffee smiling down at them. Chondra and Tyronos were breathing hard. "Done killing each other?" Codec asked.

"For now." Chondra laughed ruffling the hair of the closest child.

"Perfect." Codec grinned starting to walk back into the upper level. "I got something for you." Tyronos and Chondra looked at each other and then both took off running up the stairs and after Codec. Codec was just sitting down in her chair again when the two joined her. "Wasn't easy. I had to cross a lot of lines I don't usually have to cross."

"What? Asking for help?" Chondra laughed.

"Lord no woman." Codec said theatrically. "I'll be cold and dead before I have to stoop that low."

"You'd make an awful assassin." Chondra sighed.

"That suits me fine." Codec grinned, Tyronos cleared his throat. "Yes. Yes. The focused one. Here." Codec handed over a pretty thick folder to Tyronos who opened it quickly. "That has as many leads as I could gather. I can't do anything more than that without getting hardcore detected."

"Hardcore detected?" Tyronos asked. "You mean?"

"They have a ip address, but I'm already scrambling and resetting it." Codec shrugged. "Should be fine."

"This is beautiful Codec." Chondra smiled as Tyronos flipped through the folder. So many names. So many locations. So many chances.

"Thank you." Tyronos said with a victorious grin. "This is more than I hoped."

"What can I say." Codec grinned. "I do what I do and I do it well."

"Very well." Chondra said giving the cat a hug. Codec smiled and hugged her back as best she could.

"The coffee is good." Codec smiled lifting her cup to Tyronos. "Thanks Hopeless."

"It's your stuff." Tyronos shrugged. "I just put it together."

"That's the part that amazes her." Chondra laughed. "So. Anything local we can start with?"

"Yes in fact." Codec said bringing up a file on her computer. Tyronos flipped to it in the folder. "Got a bird named Loki. Code name of course, but he's just on the other side of town."

"Let's go." Chondra said hitting Tyronos with her elbow as she turned to leave. Tyronos closed the folder and rolled it so it could be stuffed in his back pocket. When they went to the room they were staying at Tyronos moved the folder to his bag. Chondra was strapping on her sword and daggers. Tyronos did the same with his blaster. They moved quickly out of the room pulling on their bags.

"Leaving already Ghost?" called the kid wearing her sweater. "D'you want your sweater back?"

"Nah kid. Keep it." Chondra called with a smile. Tyronos wasn't going to stop walking, neither was she. The excitement of a direction was far too new. "You'll grow into it. Remember to watch your stance!"

"Got it!" the kid smiled and then turned to the friends who were already trying to copy Tyronos and Chondra's fight.

"Loki. I've never heard of him before." Chondra said softly as they walked, Tyronos had entered the location into his comm and was watching it carefully.

"Does that surprise you?" Tyronos asked he was leading the way.

"A little. I mean to plan something so huge as killing off the Starfox team means you need to be some hot shit." Chondra said pushing away a beggar who had started to follow them. "My specialty for a while was big named targets, it's weird no one ordered a hit."

"Big names eh?" Tyronos said looking down an alley, it was all clear so he walked down it.

"Yup." Chondra laughed. "You don't believe me do you?"

"I'm just wondering how you got yourself pissed enough to kill anyone." Tyronos said.

"Lots of vodka." Chondra grinned. "And some carefully selected memories."

"Fascinating." Tyronos said as he looked around the corner of the alley. They were almost there.

"What I want to know is-" Chondra started but was cut off by a loud explosion. Tyronos and Chondra turned. Huge flames and a column of smoke.

"Fuck." Tyronos swore looking down at his comm. "That's..."

"Codec." Chondra said, she took a step forward. Tyronos grabbed her shoulder.

"That much smoke and you still think there is anyone left to save?" Tyronos asked. "C'mon Ghost."

"FUCK!" Chondra yelled and turned to kick the wall. She crumbled into it. Knees against the wall, hands covering her eyes as her forehead pressed again the brick.

"You break your foot and I'm shooting you in the head." Tyronos growled. "We don't have time for this shit Ghost. If you can't handle yourself so help me God I will shoot you in the FUCKING head."

"Asshole." Chondra growled standing quickly. Tyronos met her steely gaze and pressed his blaster to her temple.

"In the head." Tyronos repeated.

"So help me God when we find this person I will rip off their fucking face." Chondra fumed as she walked forward, when she was in the middle of the street she turned to Tyronos who was a few feet behind her. "Where is this asshole."

"To your right." Tyronos grinned. Chondra walked off to her right. Finally, Tyronos thought. Chondra was pissed enough to be of real use to him. He looked over his shoulder one last time at the burning building. With any luck some of those kids still lived, and they were pissed. Anger was the only thing that could save you on this planet.

* * *

Loki was located in a shitty pub with "rooms by the hour" available on the upper levels. Chondra kicked open the door and immediately went for the bartender. "Loki." She growled.

"Upstairs." Grumbled the bartender. "Ain't gunna see you though."

"I don't need to see him." Chondra said as she left and went up the stairs. Tyronos close behind. Chondra had her sword drawn before she got the the landing. Tyronos was more cautious, placing a hand on his blaster but not drawing it. The rooms smelled nostalgic, of vices; sex, drugs, alcohol, blood. Women moaned, men moaned Chondra ignored them all, hot only for the blood of Loki. They looked for the only guarded room. They took down one guard a piece and then Chondra opened the door.

"What the fuck?" Shouted Loki who jumped out of the bed, the two women he was with screamed and ran, completely naked, from the room. "Who the fuck are you."

"Starfox McCloud, what do you know?" Tyronos asked holding his blaster level with Loki's head.

"What the fuck? Who sent you?" Loki sputtered trying to pull on pants.

"That doesn't fucking matter. Do you know him?" Chondra growled taking a step forward.

"Of course I fucking know him! Who doesn't?" Loki said with his palms facing Chondra and Tyronos. "Who sent you?"

"No one sent us." Tyronos said.

"You hear anything about a hit going down on him and his team?" Chondra asked stepping closer so her sword was more of a threat.

"Course I did I ain't deaf!" Loki said pulling away from the sword. "Everyone heard the rumours, never thought it'd get done, needed big money."

"Whose money?" Tyronos asked.

"Anyone who wanted in." Loki said staring at the sword tip in his face.

"Did you?" Chondra asked.

"Course I did." Loki said his face and voice dark. "I sent some of my boys to Panther."

"Panther?" Chondra and Tyronos said together.

"Yea who the hell else would try somethin' like this?" Loki laughed.

"Enough." Chondra growled pressing the steel of her sword to the bird's neck. "Where is Panther."

"Ain't got no street address." Loki said. "You think he's dumb?"

"Yeah I suppose." Tyronos said and then pulled his trigger. The beam was so close to Chondra's cheek it singed it. She turned as Loki's corpse crumbled to the ground.

"Close enough?" She asked eyebrows raised.

"Enough." Tyronos said putting away his blaster. "Panther is the biggest name on this planet, getting his attention is easy enough."

"But we don't want his attention." Chondra sighed.

"Exactly." Tyronos said walking over to the window. "Get off the planet, don't make any stops."

"Where we headed?" Chondra asked as he opened the window.

"Away, before this blows up." Tyronos said tossing a timed grenade over his shoulder and then jumping out the window. Chondra cursed mildly and then followed him. "Fifteen seconds. I'm going right."

"You're going INSANE." Chondra countered as she slung her scabbard off her back and put her sword in it. She started to run left, her best option was the street. People who saw them jump and then start to run started to run themselves. Someone else called to the pub. The explosion and following screams made Chondra run a bit faster, she got to her ship almost breathless. The girl was sitting casually in front of the ship with a large gun on her lap. When she saw Chondra running at her she sat up quickly.

"All your shit is still there ma'am, I didn't even go on myself." She said as Chondra slung her sword back on her back and reached in her bag for some money.

"Great kid, I don't have time to check to see if you're lying." Chondra said pressing the coins into her hands firmly. "You never saw me."

"Just like a ghost, never saw you." The girl nodded.

"Exactly like a ghost. Make scarce for a while. Spend some of that coin." Chondra grinned and opened the ship and as fast as she was able she got it in the air. Tyronos met up with her in space and after the docking sequence was finished he made his way to the bridge. He put in some coordinates into the ship's auto pilot and then sat down in the chair closest to him heavily.

"That sucked." He said softly rolling his head back.

"Yup. It did." Chondra nodded leaning forward and holding her forehead with one hand. "Why did they have to kill Codec?"

"Did you think you could get on a planet like Kew, make connections. Make friends. Invest your heart in things and get away with it?" Tyronos asked looking over at her. "Nature is never so kind. No good deed goes unpunished."

"I never did anything good for her." Chondra laughed bitterly.

"Those kids loved you Ghost." Tyronos said standing. "But it'd be wrong for you to assume they died because of something you died. Codec knew she was pushing it when she got these files for us, but she – like you – she got attached, she loved you. Now the best thing we can do is finish this." He turned to leave

"Ty." Chondra said softly.

"Yea." Tyronos replied stopping and turning to face her again. She stood and walked at him taking the dagger off her thigh and quickly brushing it past Tyronos's face, some fur fell.

"Now we're even." She grinned and then kept on walking out of the cockpit.

"Crazy bitch." He laughed.

"Established fact." Chondra called back. "I'm getting a shower first."

"Whatever." Tyronos sighed turning to sit in the captain's chair for a while before taking out his supplies and rolling a joint to smoke. He was rolling a second one when Chondra came back from her shower with a towel around her shoulders and a bottle of vodka in her hand.

"So where we going?" She asked as she sat in the other chair.

"MacBeth, we need more supplies." Tyronos said. "Kew has too many mouths that run on money to be safe forever."

"No shit." Chondra said taking the newly formed joint and lighting it so she could take a drag. "What we going to do about Panther?"

"I dunno yet." Tyronos said sitting back in his chair and sighing. "We have his attention on Kew now, that's for sure."

"But we left Kew." Chondra said with a raised eyebrow.

"Then we'll have to get his attention on MacBeth too now won't we." Tyronos grinned.

"Indeed." Chondra grinned back and opened her vodka, Tyronos took a drink from it as she passed it to him then stood to go get a shower of his own. 


	8. Chapter 8

Space was calming. It was nothingness defined. It had no air, no gravity, no light. It had no rules – try as people might to change that. It was the forever Wild West – and it was as close to home as Ghost and Hopeless could figure. Perhaps that's why it comforted Ghost to be here again. Everything shit had always happened on planet side – except of course the dogfight that killed Slippy and led to Fox and Krystal being captured. The closer she got to people – the less friendly the world seemed. She snorted a little in cynical mirth.

"What?" Hopeless asked.

"Nothing, just thinking." Ghost sighed.

"Too much of that is lethal you know." Hopeless replied in a monotone.

"I was thinking about my sensei. The guy that taught me my swordplay, anyway I was thinking how shit it was that the more I try to replace the death in my life with happiness I get more death. He used to tell me this is exactly what I had to look forward to. Death. Once you introduce it into your life like a friend it will become jealous of anyone else you try to add in."

"I hafta say I agree with that notion." Hopeless said after a moment.

"I never wanted to believe him." Ghost continued. "Fuck the guy made me into a psychopath. I worshipped him. Everything he told me was gospel except for that one thought – that I wasn't death's bestie. My first sin."

"My first sin – being born. It was all shit after that." Hopeless grinned a little in attempts to shake Ghost from her dark musing.

"Just fucking sucks. Ya know?" Ghost said. "I really thought this was it. Getting in with Fox. Legal jobs. Soskk. I thought this was the turn around – the proof that my sensei was wrong."

"No sin goes unpunished." Hopeless agreed. "We all transgress, we all suffer the wrath of the psychopathic gods that created us. Ghost. Go sleep. Your brain is working too hard."

"Can't sleep." Ghost said with a groan.

"There is some pills in the washroom, in a green tin. Take one with some vodka. That'll take your personal opinion on sleep out of the question – it'll come. Just one pill though, or you might get a more permanent sleep than I'd like yah too. Remember Ghostie – no one is waiting for you on the other side. So don't fuckin' cheap out on me"

"As always. Your concern is appreciated." Ghost snickered. "Don't worry, I'm too pissed to be dead just yet."

"Good." Hopeless smirked.

When they landed on MacBeth they both used the sandy climate as an excuse to cover their mouths with fabric and their eyes with goggles. They blended pretty well with the other traders landing in the port, except that they had more money. Chondra looked at Tyronos out of the corner of her eye as they passed some rough looking thugs. Tyronos was sure to limit his eye contact with them in case that was all they needed to jump on them. They found a hotel with a bar and sat at a table there. After checking the bar for unfriendlies Chondra was quick to pull off the scarf around her mouth and pull the goggles down around her neck. Tyronos put his goggles on the top of his head and pulled the scarf down around his neck as he ordered some drinks for them.

"More thugs here than I remember." Tyronos said looking around.

"Aye, money is good here, the thugs were sure to follow." Chondra said folding her scarf.

"Money is good?" Tyronos asked eyebrows raised. "Hate to see it when it's bad."

"Be nice." Chondra scolded as they got their drinks. "Nothin' wrong with honest folk making a living."

"You pick up accents some quick." Tyronos said as she took a drink.

"Gotta blend." Chondra said with a wink. "Else someone might catch notice of us."

Tyronos finished his drink in one swallow he motioned to the barkeep for another one. "Cho."

"Yes." Chondra asked refolding her scarf.

"You see him too right?" Tyronos asked with a smile taking his new drink and flicking a coin at the waitress.

"Guy in the corner, black hair?" Chondra said with raised eyebrows. "Oh yes. I see 'um."

"It's a mechanic I've gone to a few times. Shall we go say hi?" Tyronos said standing.

"Suuuure." Chondra said finishing her drink and motioning for a second as they walked over to join the man they had spotted at the bar. They chose a seat on either side of him.

"How's it going?" Tyronos asked clunking his drink down.

"Pretty good friend." The man said with a smile. "What brings you to these parts?"

"Just looking for some drink." Cho smiled. "The name is Ghost."

"Hopeless." Tyronos said motioning towards himself.

"Loden." The man said with a smile. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"You don't remember me do you?" Tyronos asked.

"I know your face, can't place a name though." Loden said.

"My name is Hopeless, you've repaired my ship a couple times."

"Ah yeah, a sweet custom Arwing." Loden said, happy to recall it. "Only body work."

"Yeah. How you feel about doing some more work for me?" Tyronos asked.

"Sure, never say no to some work." Loden said. "You need your Arwing repaired?"

"Not exactly." Tyronos said. Chondra giggled.

* * *

"_You stop crying right now."_

"_But it hurts." _

"_I said STOP!" The man she knew as her teacher picked her up by the neck and pinned her against the wall. "Crying means you're releasing your anger, your sadness, your frustration. All of those are weapons. Would you toss your sword away in a fight?"_

"_N-no!" Chondra sobbed. _

"_Then stop crying!" _

As she was tossed to the ground in her dream, she was woken by a knock on the door in reality. Tyronos looked over at her, she uncurled herself and picked up her sword. After she nodded Tyronos opened the door slowly.

"Loden. Back so soon?" Tyronos said as he relaxed. Chondra released the grip on her sword but didn't relax.

"Easier time getting stocked than I expected." Loden said dropping some bags on the floor. "I got a discount too, on account of my friendliness."

"Whadya know it does pay to be friendly." Chondra mumbled with a smirk as she watched Tyronos count out the change he received from Loden. "What you get for info?"

"Some slave traffickers were complaining about one of their warehouses getting snagged." Loden said with a shrug. "Everyone else was pretty tight lipped."

"We need more money." Tyronos sighed.

"We could try asking them nicely." Chondra giggled. Tyronos threw the first thing he could reach at the giggling vulpine. As it turned out it happened to be the apple Loden was just about to bite into.

"Manners!" Chondra giggled as she caught the apple and tossed it back.

"You ain't going soft on me are you Ghost?" Tyronos said picking up the bags and putting them on the bed. "I'd hate to get you pissed again."

"I ain't going soft." Chondra growled. "But I could use some action, yah dig."

"Fine. Take Loden, go and see who you can get some info out of." Tyronos said. Chondra grinned with excitement; she took the arm of Loden and opened the door again. "Oh and Cho."

"What?" Chondra asked annoyed.

"Ask nicely." Tyronos smiled and tossed her a little cloth wrapped package. Chondra quickly opened it. It was a butterfly knife. She laughed.

"Oh I'll just be the _sweetest_ thing." She grinned and then pulled Loden out of the little hotel hole of a room.

Chondra took Loden to a nice shady bar on the low end of town. She found a booth to her liking and ordered them both some drinks before she started to scope out the place. "So Loden, why a mechanic?"

"I like helpin people." Loden said with a nervous grin. "I like working with my hands, money isn't always good but I can usually pick up other jobs to make up for it."

"And it don't bother you as to what those jobs are?" Chondra asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not usually." Loden smiled. "I just like helping people. Especially people like you and your brother."

"Not my brother." Chondra laughed. The drinks came and she swallowed half of hers in one go.

"Oh sorry." Loden said sniffing his drink before taking a conservative sip of it.

"Hopeless and I...siblings. Now that is an idea." Chondra giggled to herself. "No, the world isn't that cruel."

"I...understand." Loden said with a smile. He looked at his drink, not liking it made him feel awkward. "So what are we hoping to do here?"

"Get some info." Chondra said looking around. "Places like this always have middle of the ladder thugs, they have less information than the big time guys but they usually have looser mouths too."

"Alright. Makes sense." Loden nodded in agreement and looked around. "But how do we figure out who is who?"

"Well the easiest way is to start a fight." Cho said simply finishing her drink.

"Pardon?" Loden asked alarmed.

"Start a fight." Chondra said again and she lent over and drank all of Loden's drink in one swallow before standing completely and walking over to the bar. Loden ran to her.

"Why are we starting a fight?" he asked in a whisper.

"Cause I'm bored sweetie." Chondra laughed and then took out her butterfly knive and jumped up on the counter running along it to press it against the jaw of the thug she picked out. In the commotion she saw three men jump to protect a fourth in the corner of the bar. "There you are."

"What do I do?" Loden asked with some daggers in hand.

"Follow me." Chondra said and she turned quickly, throwing a blade to pin the thug to the wall with his hand. She walked over with her sword.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" the thug asked.

"I don't have enough time to ever cover the basics of that question." Chondra laughed. The three bodyguards growled and charged her. Chondra pushed one towards Loden who quickly started fighting him. The two she kept for herself she quickly disarmed and knocked out.

"Can't blame them for following the money." She sighed and then pushed the table out from between her and the thug who was trying to get a good enough grip on the bloody blade to rip it out of the wall and his hand. "Son."

The thug looked over.

"Just don't." She sighed.

Despite his confusion – Loden laughed.

Once everyone besides the thug with the blade in his hand was taken care of, Chondra pulled a chair over and sat next to him. After a moment she sighed and then relaxed. The thug looked at her with some apprehension. "Now that the first impressions are over with," Chondra said coolly. "The rest of our relationship should go smoothly. I'm going to ask you some questions and you will answer them. The faster I get answers I like the faster that blade comes out of your hand. Do you understand?"

The thug nodded. Chondra smiled.

* * *

They had stopped trying to figure out where they were, or whom they were taken by, or what day it was. Systematically they were taken, strung up and abused. Normal enough at first. Punches and kicks seemed so long ago now – so innocent. Krystal longed for them really. A bruise would be a blessing.

Fox had been taken alone this time; Krystal stopped crying out for him in voice. Now there was only their mind link and the silent exchange between them. Sometimes – when the pain was too much she would forget. It would always led to extra pain for the pair of them. Krystal did her best to empty her brain, counting usually did it more or less, until Fox was returned. If their captors were sated with Fox she would be left alone.

When the door opened Krystal pressed herself against the wall and stared at it. Holding her breath as Fox was dragged in and rechained. The guards spit at her but left her alone. After the door was closed – she exhaled. Since their captors wanted them alive they were mostly teasing with their cruelty. It was too close to the last session with the Master for them to risk any real damage. The Master was vicious in his anger – some guards had found themselves on the other side of the violence after damaging the prisoners.

"Fox."

"I'm alright." Fox panted.

"What do they want from us?" Krystal asked in frustration as she watched Fox pull himself into his bed.

"Sometimes people just want to hurt others." Fox said softly. "They don't need a reason."

"There is always a reason." Krystal disagreed passionately.

Fox hoped she was right. If they had motive they could be paid off eventually. He really thought he would have been rescued by now. It had been so long since he had seen any of his team. The old worries crept up within him. Betrayal. Surely his nightmare hadn't come true. Did he have his own Pigma now on his team? The thought made vomit raise within him.

No. Fox held his breath until his nausea dissipated.

He couldn't believe it. His team would come for him. Or he would get himself out of here and see where they had gotten. If he was strung up here – they could be somewhere else in the same (or worse) situation. The door opened again and Krystal and Fox both flinched. Having just been returned Fox knew who they were after. He used to cry out just as Krystal did, but knowing now the futility of it he just looked at Krystal with longing as they pulled her away. She hit and shrieked, it was useless, but it made her feel better.

"We are getting out of here." Fox growled as the steel door shut and he was left alone in darkness.

* * *

Panther knew it meant death, but at this point in time death was looking pretty good on all fronts. His guilt was heavier than his shoulders could bear. His role in the plot had been too crucial. Lead on by a payday that had left him euphoric and deaf to emotion for not nearly long enough.

Now there were only the screams. The screams were prayers for some merciful deity to come and claim them so that the pain may stop. The guy that they had found was too skilled. He was too… eager for it. He took a pleasure in it that was sadistic and awe-inspiring as he systematically and artistically scared Fox and Krystal.

He loved using them against each other. Both were too willing to feel pain for the other.

Wolf and Leon had watched for a while too. Wolf left first with a disinterested huff. Leon remained after Panther hung his head in shame and walked away slowly. Guilt motivated him now. Using his paycheck he would betray the source of his income. He planned to bite the hand that fed him – and bite it hard.

Death was promised with every dollar that paid for one unchecked door, one rerouted patrol, one misplaced escape pod. He saw them dragging Krystal away and his resolve was cemented.

He would help them and with his death his legacy would be set in stone. His one speck of cleanliness in an ocean of filth. Perhaps it would even save him when he got to the other side.

"I guess I'll find out soon enough." He muttered and started walking to seal his fate.

He would rescue StarFox.


End file.
